Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 92

Chapter 92: 92-With A Child

Helanie:

“Helanie—” As she continued, she shook me back to reality, forcing me to focus on her issue and stop thinking about myself for a moment.

“It’s a weird kind of feeling when your mate is—cheating on you,” she bit her bottom lip, trying to hide the pain.

“Could it be a false alarm?” I asked, not wanting the two to separate. Ever since I had known them, I had only known them together. They made me believe that true love exists and is very real.

“It could be,” she said, her tone hesitant. “Sometimes, if the other person is distressed, their wolf can feel slightly less attracted to their mate. Which, in my case, means Gavin must be feeling less attracted to me. And there could be many reasons for that, but what if—it’s because of the cheating part? It happens mostly because of cheating.” She seemed so confident in her feelings.

“Did you tell him about it?” I asked. She nodded.

“And what did he say?” I inquired, noticing tears welling up in her eyes.

“He said—he’s less attracted to me because I keep making him feel guilty, and I doubt him all the time. I don’t know what to do. I don’t want us to go down that path, but how do I avoid this weird feeling in my chest?” she sobbed, as if she had been holding back her tears for years.

I instinctively went in for a hug, though I couldn’t help blaming Gavin in my heart. She was already so hurt, and instead of comforting her, he told her he was less attracted to her.

“It’s just that—his tone toward Jenny is so odd,” she said, breaking the hug to hide her face in her hands.

“To be honest with you, I didn’t notice anything,” I admitted. As soon as I said that, she raised her head to look at me.

“Really? You don’t think the two might be secretly hooking up?” she asked, her voice filled with hope as she searched my face for an answer.

“To be honest, I didn’t notice it. I actually found Jenny more interested in befriending us than Gavin,” I shrugged, noticing a faint smile forming on Lucy’s lips.

“Anyway, enough about me. Are you okay?” I asked, relieved to see her feeling a little comforted. Just then, the door swung open, and Lamar stumbled in.

“Ah! The two girls I hate the most,” he said, rolling his eyes and hiccupping loudly.

“Is this motherf***er drunk?” Lucy whispered to me, making my jaw drop in disbelief.

“Hey, close the door before anyone sees me like this,” Lamar clicked his tongue and pretended to hide under his blanket, as if shielding himself from the warden.

“Are you serious? She was sick earlier, and now you’ve come in drunk. Do you have any idea how she’ll feel with the stench of this nasty smell?” Lucy got up, her frustration so visible, and confronted Lamar.

He uncovered his face from the blanket and frowned at her. “She needs a drink to loosen up a bit,” he shrugged, completely unbothered.

“Hey, Lucy, be a doll and help me take off my shoes,” he said, stretching his legs out and giving her exaggerated puppy-dog eyes.

The more he spoke, the more he shocked us.

“Ew, I wouldn’t touch your gross feet with a ten-foot pole,” Lucy grimaced, kicking his shoes back toward the blanket.

“Don’t be rude. Why is it that all cute girls are always so rude?” he said, but the moment he uttered those words, I saw Lucy straighten her back. That one compliment seemed to light her up, and it saddened me.

“Anyway, I’ll drink this—” Lamar pulled out a bottle, but Lucy launched herself at him, trying to snatch it from his hands.

“It’s lemon water! But if you’re so curious about jumping into my bed, just do it. You don’t need an excuse. In fact, a girl as pretty as you doesn’t need any excuse at all,” he flirted shamelessly, his eyes gleaming as he showered her with compliments.

“Lucy! Come back here. Let him deal with his mess himself,” I said, stretching my hand toward her. She stared at it for a moment before finally taking it.

“I—I should go look for Gavin,” she said, hesitation evident in her voice.

Her words threw me off. Was she going to look for Gavin because Lamar had made her feel some type of way, and she needed to remind herself that she already had a mate?

“You wanna come?” Lucy looked at me, her expression softer now. I was glad she had finally decided to talk to Gavin. Hopefully, the two of them would resolve this matter, and by tomorrow, all our worries would vanish—maybe even mine. My heart sank at the thought of the test.

“Yeah, I’ll take a walk near the library,” I said. The library was on the ground floor, near the bathroom. I didn’t want to be left alone in a room with Lamar, who was heavily drunk, so I decided to head down there. Nobody would be around at this hour, and I could take the test in peace and have some time to myself.

“Okay!” Lucy said as she walked out. I grabbed my sweater, tucking the test inside it to hide it.

I was about to leave when I heard Lamar grunt my name under his breath.

“What is it now?” I turned around, hands on my waist.

“You’re still mad at me. You’ve been mad a lot these days. Every time I look at you, you’re angry—and not smiling—” He pouted, as if trying to look cute.

“And what? You think you will kill me if I don’t accept your apology?” I replied with a sarcastic tone.

“Listen—about the things I said to you last night—just forget it. It’s not your fault,” he said, sounding much less drunk than he had appeared when he first arrived.

“Are you even drunk?” I raised an eyebrow at him. He quickly nodded.

“Not that much. I might have exaggerated a bit so you wouldn’t ask me questions about last night’s conversation,” he admitted, avoiding my gaze.

“Yet you’re the one who brought it up yourself,” I muttered.

“Yeah, I didn’t want you to talk about it in front of Lucy,” he murmured, his voice soft, his eyes lowered like a guilty child who’d just broken something precious.

“Why?” I asked, suspicious.

“Eh, no particular reason. I just don’t like too many people knowing about my conversations with others,” he said, scratching his head awkwardly. “Yeah, I can see you’re giving me that look. But in all seriousness—” He hiccupped and quickly flashed a sheepish grin. “I’m sorry. If there’s a way to make it up to you, I’ll do it. I’ll even protect you from the bullies.”

I let out a loud scoff, and he nodded, looking as though he understood. “I guess that was a good response to my stupid statement,” he said, shaking his head at himself.

“You know, I’ll just go now,” I said, not wanting to stick around. I was anxious about the test I was about to take. Besides, Lamar showing up drunk to discuss such a serious issue wasn’t the right way to handle things.

“Got it,” he said as I walked out of the room.

In the elevator, I stared at the buttons, my eyes scanning for the tenth floor—but it wasn’t there. Maybe I had hallucinated it all. I’d had some pretty crazy nightmares recently about wells and other unsettling things, but to hallucinate something so vividly had left me puzzled.

Since I had spent some time talking with Lamar, I was certain Lucy had already reached Gavin’s room. That meant I had the chance to head straight to the ground floor.

I rushed into the bathroom and took a deep breath, pulling out the test. Wasting another minute wasn’t an option. I peed on the stick and set it aside, waiting as my heart pounded against my chest.

“It’ll come out negative. I’ll be fine. I’m just stressing over—nothing,” I muttered, trying to calm myself down. I didn’t even know why I had taken the test in the first place. Maybe the nausea and vomiting were just from stress.

But now I was here, in the bathroom—not the one in my room, but the bathroom next to the library—and there was no turning back.

“Please be negative. I don’t need this on top of everything else I’m dealing with!” I whispered desperately, my voice trembling. I closed my eyes, but flashes of that night came rushing back—the night they had used me so brutally.

If this test came out positive, it would mean the Moon Goddess was having far too much fun at my expense.

Finally, I opened my eyes. The result stared back at me.

Two lines.

Positive.

My jaw dropped as a single tear fell straight from my eye, bypassing my cheek and landing on the test.

“No! This can’t be. How could you—how could you let this happen?” I hissed at the ceiling, imagining the Moon Goddess sitting comfortably and watching me, her suffering she-wolf, from afar.

It was positive.

Panic struck me hard. My breathing quickened, and my chest tightened as my mind spun out of control. I couldn’t—I wouldn’t—carry a baby from one of those monsters.

But now I am pregnant.

And as miserable as I could possibly feel.